Beyond the shores

Detroit River's islands have their own stories to tell

The riverfront near Detroit and the border of Canada gets most of the attention, but it's not the only local property touching the river.

Few people think of the islands.

Many are picturesque, and a couple are polluted -- one so much that people aren't allowed on it. A few of the islands have melodic French names, and one is named Zug.

There are 23, according to the Friends of the Detroit River.

Some are evolving faster than others, but all are slowly transforming. Polluted islands are being turned back into natural habitat, and others are becoming high-end real estate developments.

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Housing on Bois Blanc Island, former site of Boblo Island amusement park.

1. Bois Blanc, aka Boblo

Bois Blanc is a French name denoting the white bark of the island's birch and beech trees, but everyone knows it as Boblo Island.

The namesake amusement park operated for nearly 100 years before closing in 1993. Soon after it closed, efforts to redevelop the island into a high-end residential community began, taking advantage of the Canadian isle's proximity to Amherstburg, 16 miles from Windsor, and the Detroit River's shipping channel.

"Boblo is an amazing place to live," said Mike Girard, president and CEO of Diadem Precision Technology in Troy, who bought one of the first homes for sale on Boblo in the mid-1990s. "We face Grosse Ile, so we have a fantastic view. The most popular mode of transportation here is golf cart."

Amico Properties Inc., based in Oldcastle, Ontario, is redeveloping the 272-acre island as Boblo Island, a Marina Resort Community -- a combination of condominiums and single-family houses connected by short roads on the northern half of the isle and walking trails on the southern end.

The shipping channel cuts right past the island, giving onlookers an up-close view of the freighters. Boblo has no bridges, just a ferry that runs between the eastern edge of the island and the Ontario mainland. Home prices start in the high $100,000s.

Boblo has more than 100 lots that can be developed on the southern end of the island, said Sandra Couloufis, the manager of the island.

2. Peche Island: Influenced by fishing

Peche is French for fishing, a fitting name for an island that is popular with boaters and fishing enthusiasts today.

The uninhabited island is the easternmost island in the Detroit River, sitting next to Lake St. Clair.

During the 20th century, various people attempted to develop the island into everything from a public park to a high-end residential site.

Windsor bought it in 1999, and there are no firm plans for it today.

RON BAKER, MCC INC.

Sunrise from Grosse Ile.

3. Grosse Ile: One township, nine islands

Grosse Ile -- French for big island -- is the largest island in the Detroit River and one of the tony residential suburbs of metro Detroit's Downriver area.

The township's 10 square miles include Grosse Ile and eight other islands, though the vast majority of its 10,000 residents live on the main island.

The community has just three stoplights, but it also has an airport that once was home to a U.S. naval base and other military installations.

Carol Ladomer's family moved to Grosse Ile from Detroit in the early 1950s, when there was only one stoplight.

Ladomer is now the owner/broker of Island Realty Inc., a real estate agency based in Grosse Ile since 1985. As the community grew, residents formed the Grosse Ile Nature & Land Conservancy, a nonprofit focused on maintaining the island's rural aspects through land donations and green-space preservation.

The island's water access and natural features have kept property values stable and demand for homes strong, Ladomer said.

Grosse Ile's uninhabited Celeron Island is the southernmost island in the Detroit River. It's mostly composed of rocks and trees.

4. Zug Island: Not always an island

Standing in stark contrast to the high-end residential communities on Grosse Ile and Boblo Island is Zug Island, just to the north.

Historical reports differ as to whether it was Samuel Zug or Henry Ford who originally cut the channel to connect the Rouge and Detroit rivers in the late 19th century.

River Rouge Mayor Michael Bowdler said it was Henry Ford, while some historical websites, such as Detroit1701.org, say it was Zug.

Ford brought heavy industry to the island -- which, Bowdler said, has been largely uninhabited since the 1950s. The island has hosted industrial users, such as operations of DTE Energy Co. and several steel companies.

The island, part of the city of River Rouge, has served as the workplace for thousands of Downriver families for generations. Its industrial use and history are common knowledge, Bowdler said.

"How do you describe a blast furnace?" he said. "Everybody around here knows Zug Island. I don't have to explain anything about Zug Island. If you work here, you know it has fed thousands of families over the years with its heavy industry. That's what it is."

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

An aerial view of contaminated Grassy Island, on a slow return to a natural state.

5. Refuge islands: From pollution back to nature

Several former industrial sites have become natural areas under the oversight of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. The refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within the Department of the Interior, consists of 5,700 acres on a collection of five islands that are uninhabited and protected by the federal government. They serve as wildlife habitats for fish, migratory birds and wild plants and animals.

The five are Calf, Grassy, Humbug, Mud and Sugar islands, said John Hartig, manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.

They're not parks but refuges for wildlife that have been largely pushed out of the Detroit rivershed. Birds use them as staging areas for migration. Fish use the shoals near the islands to spawn. The wetlands help the river cleanse itself from pollution.

"Our primary purpose is protecting wildlife," Hartig said.

"We have lost 97 percent of our coastal wetlands along the U.S. side of the Detroit River. Every part we have left is very important."

Grassy Island was the dumping ground for 3 million cubic yards of contaminated sediments dredged from the Detroit River during industrial activities.

It is to the point, Hartig said, where people aren't allowed on the island. The 72-acre island, next to Wyandotte, is uninhabited.

The plan for the refuge islands is to return them to their natural state over time through conservation efforts. But they, like all of the islands in the Detroit River, will continue to tell the story of the international waterway in one way or another.

Sugar Island, for example, once was a resort.

Bootleggers used a fishing house on Mud Island to drag booze along the bottom of the Detroit River from Canada to the U.S. during Prohibition, Hartig said.

"We are 311 years old as a city," he said. "Just think of all of the things we have done on these islands. They have all been used at one point or another."